By Bob Markus


The Price was right for the Tampa Bay Rays. Rookie pitcher David Price was the right man at the right time and that's why the incredible saga of the last-to-first Rays goes on. Of course, Rays' manager Joe Maddon had little choice but to employ the 6-foot, 6 inch lefty under the circumstances. The circumstances were these: The Rays were about to gag up a three games to one lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series in spite of having a 7-0 late inning lead in Game five.

Maddon had made one of his few blunders in the seventh inning of Game five when he allowed right hander Grant Balfour to face David Ortiz with two men on and a run already in. Still leading 7-1, the only way the Rays were going to lose this game was if Big Papi broke out of his home run slump. Maddon should have brought in a left hander at this point, but he stuck with Balfour and Ortiz, almost predictably, crushed a three-run homer.

Even though they still trailed 7-4, the Red Sox now had the momentum and a good bit of history on their side. Twice before in this decade the Red Sox had overcome three games to one deficits to reach the World Series. Against the New York Yankees in 2004 they became the only major league team ever to crawl out of a 3-0 hole. Only last year they spotted the Cleveland Indians a 3-1 lead and roared back to reach--and win--the World Series. It now seemed inevitable that they were on their way to doing it again. That feeling grew stronger when, after completing their jaw-dropping comeback in game five, they won game six in St.Petersburg to square the series.

Now here they were, trailing 3-1 in the eighth but with the bases loaded and lefty swinging J.D. Drew at the plate. As the late announcer Harry Caray used to love to say, "there's danger here, cherie." Indeed. It was Drew, after all, whose two-run homer off right hander Dan Wheeler in the eighth inning of game five had drawn the Sox within a run and it was Drew whose line drive over the head of right fielder Gabe Gross had driven in the winner.

Maddon was not about to make the same mistake twice in the same series. Having already used lefty J.P. Howell earlier in the inning, he called on Price, who had been a major leaguer for all of a month and had never saved a game in the big leagues--had never won one, for that matter, before this series. "We'll call him The Ice Man now," gushed Howell, after Price not only blew away Drew to end the threat, but notched two more strikeouts in the ninth while nailing down the victory.

The World Series, which starts tomorrow night in St. Petersburg, could be anti-climactic. In recent years one or both of the league championship series have produced more compelling baseball than the World Series. Three of the last four Fall Classics have been four-game sweeps and the other took the St. Louis Cardinals just five games to dispatch the Detroit Tigers. Love them or hate them the New York Yankees could always be counted on to give the Series cache. In the last 11 years, 10 different teams have represented the National League in the Series. Oddly enough, the only N.L. team to make it to the big dance twice is the Florida Marlins, the only team in the league that has never lost a playoff series--nor has it ever won a division championship.

Major League Baseball likely was hoping for a different outcome in both of this year's league championship series. A Manny Ramirez-led Dodgers team against the Red Sox would have made a great story line once it became obvious that the Chicago Cubs were not going to end their 100-year swoon any time soon.

But the Tampa Bay Rays make a pretty good story themselves. Now, in their 11th season, the Rays never won more than 70 games in a 162-game season. A year ago they had the worst record in baseball. Known as the Devil Rays since their inception, the Rays exorcised the Devil part of their nickname this year, a fact that probably had nothing to do with their amazing turn around. On the other hand, what other explanation is there? Sure, there is that talented young pitching rotation, but with closer Troy Percival out with an injury their bullpen by committee is only sometimes effective. They have some good young players like rookie third baseman Evan Longoria and center fielder B.J. Upton, but aside from Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli, both of whom have battled injuries, there are few Rays players who would be recognized outside Pinellas County.

But now The Ice Man cometh and could be the deciding factor in the upcoming series. The Philadelphia Phillies resemble the Boston Red Sox in many ways. Like the Red Sox, the Phils have an All-Star second baseman in Chase Utley. Like the Red Sox, the Phils have a big bopper in Ryan Howard. Like the Red Sox, the Phils have a dominant closer in Brad Lidge. Lidge, in fact, failed to save only one game all year, but that was the All-Star game. Because of that lone failure the home field advantage goes to Tampa Bay. Playing in quirky Tropicana Field, the Rays had the best home record in baseball. I like Tampa Bay in six games.